Fun with Google maps!

I have lived in downtown Vancouver for a bit more than five and a half years, now, and I continue to be amazed at the fact that I can live so closely to all the important theatres. Now, thanks to Google, it is possible to trace my routes via satellite imaging! So, just in case anybody’s interested …

… this is the exact path I walk whenever I go to the Fifth Avenue Cinema (except I don’t walk around the far side of our apartment building; I cut through the courtyard). The walk across the Burrard Street Bridge is especially nice; it’s much better than the Granville Street Bridge, which doesn’t “feel” so sturdy or secure.

… this is pretty much the path I walk whenever I go to the Granville or Capitol theatres (which are across the street from each other).

… this is how closely I live to the Pacific Cinematheque (obviously, I don’t make the loop around the block that is depicted here, which I guess a car would have to make).

… and this is definitely not the path I take whenever I walk to the Cinemark Tinseltown theatre — I prefer something more zig-zaggy — but the image at least gives you an idea of the distance. The Tinseltown, by the way, is currently the only theatre in the downtown area that has stadium-style seating, and it is also the only first-run theatre in the downtown area that is not owned (in whole or part) by either Famous Players or Cineplex Odeon.

All of these theatres are within a half-hour’s walk from my place, and it is fairly rare that I have to go any further afield for a press or preview screening. The one major exception is the SilverCity Metropolis theatre in Burnaby, which is the nearest stadium-style theatre to Vancouver that is run by one of the two main Canadian theatre chains. But to get to this theatre, I have to hop on a SkyTrain, and while this set of directions obviously does not follow the public-transit route that I take to get there, the image does at least give a sense of the distance involved.

With any luck, though, my trips to Burnaby may soon be a thing of the past! Famous Players is opening the brand-new Paramount Theatre on the corner of Burrard and Smithe in just a week or two, and that’s just four blocks away! Hopefully it will have all the accoutrements that the SilverCity has.

JUNE 21 UPDATE: And now, this is the route from my place to the Paramount — though I usually cut straight through the courtyard to Burrard and walk straight down the one street.

AUG 21 UPDATE: I have changed the links to take advantage of the new “hybrid” feature, which gives street names to satellite images.